


Lost in the system

by Kabaneri



Category: Deca-Dence (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cyborgs, Monsters, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Out of Body Experiences, Science Fiction, matrix-like? kind of, other characters to be added - Freeform, they kind of appear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:48:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25783918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kabaneri/pseuds/Kabaneri
Summary: Natsume's near-death, more like temporary death, experience is a bit more serious than in the anime. It causes not only the system to write her off as dead but also does something no one would have expected to happen.Will write at least 1 more chapter, at least that's the plan. We'll see. Read if you want. Has explanation in the end.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

“person talking” ; {system} ; _“talking”_

‘person thinking’ ; [call/message] ; _‘thinking’_

Explosions sounded everywhere… A Gadoll was chasing them, then… blackness.

Natsume woke up to a world of delirious pain – her arm SCREAMED in pain, her chest was so tight she almost couldn’t breathe, but he just stared at the ceiling with half-lidded eyes, not even reacting or realizing the pain to its full extend. At some point her dad came for a bit to make sure she was alright and left to fight the Gadoll. The vehicle rocked her almost violently as it raced towards Deca-Dence. The pain in her chest was growing and growing… then she heard herself scream. For what? Why was she screaming? Her vision turned to black, yet again.

{…EAD. Recovery impossible…}

‘Huh? What is-‘ – Natsume thought, seeing/hearing something strange.

She woke up with a painful gasp, the faces of relieved medics over her. She wordlessly looked around, half-lidded eyes and not yet completely there.

‘So loud…’

………………………………………

Several weeks later… Natsume was officially discharged from the hospital and moved to the orphanage. They had allowed her to go through her and her father’s personal items and pack whatever she wanted before they cleared their previous residence. With him dead and her unable to pay, she was given a room at the orphanage.

She still had a slight buzzing and crackling in her ears but the doctors assured her it sometimes happened when someone was hurt as bad as she was and that it would disappear soon. She had not only lost her father, but an arm, almost died from blood loss and shock, was also concussed and was in a coma-like state for the first week of her stay at the hospital.

“It’s a miracle you even survived! We almost declared you brain-dead when you arrived.” – one of the doctors had said and laughed a bit awkwardly.

Natsume was thankful that she got to keep her most important stuff and even got a place to live, having no relatives other than her father. At least Fei is a great roommate, so she counts this as a win.

With time, the buzzing had become so faint that she didn’t notice it, but it never disappeared. If she focused really hard, she could hear the oh so faint buzzing… like static on a TV. At times, even Natsume was wondering if she wasn’t imagining it. Then, one day…

===Flashback===

All the children from the orphanage were taken out on a ‘trip’, more like an early career tour. They were shown different places and how people worked in hopes they would choose a job and be off as soon as they were of age, maybe even land an early apprenticeship.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” – Fei whispered to her.

“I want to join the Power. Fight Gadoll and bring peace! I want to be like Kurenai-san.” – Natsume smiled.

“R-really? Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Heh! Like someone with only one arm can fight the Gadoll.” – Linmei sneered.

Natsume scowled and grabbed her forearm. What was left from her arm was still a bit tender and bandaged, needing more time to heal.

“S-Shut up!”

“Kids! Quiet there! Mr. Suba will tell us what they do in Electronics.” – the director said.

Just as Mr. Suba was leading them towards one of the electric circuits connecting a set of doors, a pair of Gears went down an elevator and passed by them.

 _“938*uoghe…the top rank? Turkey was amazing!”_ – a feminine voice said.

 _“No Mikey definitely-drr~9$alq.“_ – a masculine voice replied.

Natsume stopped and looked around. No one but Mr. Suba was talking, yet she could hear voices. They sounded kind of off, like they were not quite there. The voices got farther but it was ODD! Even if the Gears really were the ones from where the voices came, their lips never moved!

“Natsume? Are you OK?” – Fei asked her, worried for her friend.

“Eh? Ah, I am fine, don’t worry!”

“If you say so… Just tell me if you feel bad or faint again.”

===end===

This had been the first of many instances. She noticed a pattern – the strange voices appeared only when Gears were around. They talked about strange things, even though their mouths weren’t moving. “Bugs”, “Errors”, “System”, “Event”, “Ranking”, “Beams”, “Stage”, “Tutorial” and other such strange term. She had once asked one of the teachers what DPS was but they looked at her like she had grown a second head.

She never mentioned the strange voices to anyone. It was enough that people wanted to crush her dream because she was a Tanker with a prosthetic arm, she didn’t want to be called insane and forever be unable to achieve her dream because they called her crazy. Another thing Natsume noticed was that with time the voices seemed to become clearer and clearer, to the point she could hear almost everything.

{All in position! Gadoll approaching. Prepare for impact-}

She whipped her head around and ducked under the table. The strange, inorganic voice was back and it was never wrong!

“Natsume? What are you-?” – Fei asked before she was also pulled a bit down by Natsume.

“What’s gotten into you?” Linmei smirked “Playing hide and seek like-“

Clang~!!

Everything shook and alarms blared, people around then screamed. Linmei lost her balance and fell pretty hard, scraping her shoulder on a table’s edge.

“What was that?” – Fei fearfully asked.

“Gadoll, probably.” – Natsume answered, still crouched under the table.

After that, Fei always followed Natsume’s example. By some unexplainable reason, her friend would know early on if something would happen.

=== Time skip ===

Natsume finally left the orphanage, she had a job… as a cleaner. It had been a huge letdown when she learned her job was to repair the armor, an even bigger one that she had to scrub gunk off it for 5 years before she even reached the repairs.

“Boss! Why don’t you stay with us some time?” – she whined to Kaburagi.

“I have work to do.” – was his reply before he packed his stuff.

Ding~!!

“Ding?”

“What?” – he turned back to look at her.

“Ah, nothing! Just talking to myself.”

He looked at her for a second then just turned and left.

‘Ding? This is new. What does it mean?’ Natsume wondered ‘Strange… are there any Gears around here? I don’t think I’ve seen any…’

…………………………………….

“So! For some reason I couldn’t join the Power!” – she ranted to her boss.

“When are you plan on leaving? I am kind of busy.” – he deadpanned.

“Busy, busy! You always say that, boss! I am also busy! I have been working hard, you know? Also training and stuff whenever I can, but NO ONE takes me seriously! This sucks more than lagging!” – her forehead met the table.

She didn’t see Kaburagi’s eyes widening in shock.

“Oi! When did you hear that? From where?!”

“Wha- What are you talking about?” – she grumbled.

The door behind her creaked and she looked back to see a a strange, small, cream-colored creature. Kaburagi tried to diffuse the situation and stop her but she ducked and crawled towards it, scooping it to take a better look. It had… six legs, stubby tail, no nose, its eyes were popping out, steam came from a hole on its head…WAIT! Steam?!

“AH! G-Gadoll!” – she let it go and jumped back.

“Wait!” – he shouted.

As she stepped back, she stepped on a fallen bottle and slipped. With a loud crack, her head hit the counter. She didn’t get up.

“Oh, damn it!”

As quickly as he could, Kaburagi gathered her in his arms and rushed her to the hospital. The counter hadn’t been sharp enough to cut her skin but there was a possibility she could be dying from internal bleeding or something! He didn’t want to be responsible for the death of another under his watch, even if it was a human.

…………………………………

Natsume was jolted out of her drunkenness, like lightning had struck her! Different colors flashed around her, the static was back, stronger than it was before. She felt as if she was tossed and spun around like a ragdoll. That, coupled with the mix of colors, lines, clusters and numbers made her head hurt. She wanted to barf.

She woke up in a strange room. Floating platforms spread from the top, at least a few hundred meters above her, to the bottom, where it got darker until she couldn’t see farther.

‘Where am I? What is this place? Is this a dream? Why am I here? I don’t remember seeing such a place before.’ – she thought.

Everything about this mysterious place looked fantastical. It was so… clean, futuristic even, like it was AGES ahead of what they had in Deca-Dence. Who built this place or was it just an alcohol-induced dream? She spun around towards the door from which the light came from. Everything was in pastel colors and didn’t look like anything she’s seen. Also, there were no humans.

‘Wait… How did I spin around? I never moved my body.’

She looked down and froze. There was no body and she was floating in the air!! HOW?! How was she even floating?! Why was she floating? Was this really a dream or was she dead?!

Natsume was freaking out and flailed, though in reality her current body just floated, having no limbs at all. A shadow suddenly loomed over her – something was blocking the light coming from the door. She slowly looked back to see a huge purple rectangle with a man’s bald head and neck sticking out from one side, just floating in her direction.

“Hmm…” – his glasses seemed to gleam.

Natsume almost had a heart attack when he stopped just a few steps away from her, thankfully he wasn’t paying attention to her.

 _“Are you sure this is the place? I see no anomalies.”_ – a male voice said, clearer than ever before.

 _“Affirmative! The irregularity was detected in this sector.”_ -another answered out of nowhere, she was sure the rectangle guy was talking to someone.

 _“I will scan again. If noting comes up, we’ll have to check for an error in the monitoring network of this sector and fix it.”_ – rectangle guy concluded, looked around once more and left.

‘What is GOING OOOOOOOON?!’ – she wanted to scream but only a whistling noise came out.

Bzzzt~!

The scene in front of her was disturbed and she found herself opening her heavy eyelids. She was in the hospital, the back of her head throbbing and her limbs feeling heavy. She cried a bit from joy – she was OK! She was not dead or trapped somewhere strange!

“Ah! You are awake, miss. How do you feel?” – a nurse asked.

“Ugh… hurts.”

“Understandable, you hit your head pretty hard. Thank goodness that nice man brought you here so soon or things might have gone bad.”

“Man?” – she was confused, how had she hit her head and what man?

“Yes, Mr. Kaburagi brought you here a while ago. Now, rest. You need it.”

Natsume didn’t want to fall asleep, a bit afraid to wind up in that strange, scary place again. No matter how much she tried though, she eventually fell into a dreamless sleep.

It is only logical because if the chip was sending data back after Natsume 'died', the all-seeing, all-powerful system would have gone "Wait! Something's wrong here! U are dead.".


	2. Chapter 2

“person talking” ; {system} ; _“talking”_

‘person thinking’ ; [call/message] ; _‘thinking’_

“Boss! Come on, tell me…”

“Not now. We have work.”

“But the Gadoll-“

“YOU were hallucinating.”

“No! I definitely saw it!”

The conversations between Natsume and Kaburagi had gone mostly like this after she was discharged from the hospital. She would pester him as to why and how he is even keeping a Gadoll and he would deny it, ignore her or try to convince her she had imagined it.

“No! I! Have! Not!” she punctuated every word “I am sure I haven’t hallucinated THAT! Yes, the strange place where I was a floating head, maybe! But I SAW the little thing in your unit.”

“You were a floating head and try to convince me you were not hallucinating?” – he looked at her with a sort of bewildered look.

“YOU! You change the theme of the conversation again!”

She continued like that, even after lunch and the end of work hours.

“And… I really do promise to not tell anyone if you-“

“Look.” Kaburagi stopped and looked at her “I appreciate you are very passionate but I suggest you re-direct it into something more productive than bickering.” – he unlocked his door and opened it a tiny bit before a cream-colored head tried to squeeze through the small gap.

They both froze as the tiny Gadoll struggled and grunted. Without realizing it, he had allowed Natsume to follow him to his home and had let her see the Gadoll, again. Days of bickering and trying to convince her it was not real and he ALLOWED her to see it again!

“Well… this looks too solid to be a hallucination, so… What do you say, boss?” – she smiled a bit deviously.

“Haah… Fine, come in.” – in a practiced motion he scooped the small monster and plopped it on the counter.

It had clearly not been its first escape attempt. Natsume followed it, a slight bounce to her step.

“So… he is a Gadoll but is friendly?”

“Yeah.” – Kaburagi didn’t turn back to look at her.

She gave the creature her hand, it sniffed and nuzzled it, letting a small puff of steam.

“He’s super cute. What’s his name?”

“Name? Doesn’t have one.” – Kaburagi answered simply.

“Naag~”

She looked down to see the small Gadoll pawing at her leg, a pipe in its mouth.

“Pipe! Your name should be Pipe!” – she picked the pipe and threw it, the creature chasing after it.

“Oi, don’t give it strange names.” – Kaburagi finally looked at her.

“It is not an it! His name is Pipe! And if you don’t like it, you should have named it.” – she humph-ed.

“Do whatever you want…” – he sighed in defeat.

“You hear that? You got a name, Pipe!” – she took the pipe from its mouth and threw it again.

“Naaa~” – Pipe ran around the place.

…………………………………….

“So, boss… I was thinking about Pipe last night-“ – Natsume began as she scrubbed the armor.

“No.”

“What?! You didn’t even hear what I was about to say!”

“The answer would still be no. I can’t let him be seen.”

“Heeh~ You actually DO care about Pipe! You even called Pipe a him instead of it this time!”

Kaburagi kept silent and lifted himself up to reach a slightly bent part of the armor.

{-coming! All stations ready-}

Natsume’s eyes widened at the inorganic voice. She frantically looked around but saw nothing. The voice had never been wrong, so it meant the Gadoll would come even if they couldn’t be seen right now.

“Hey!” she shouted at her colleagues “We have to get inside! Now!”

She pressed the button to be lifted up but the mechanism was going too slow, it was having difficulty moving.

‘Come on! Come on!’

The alarm blared, startling everybody but her.

Thump… Thump…

Heavy steps of a giant Gadoll approached them, their eyes widening to a comical level as everybody scrambled to the entrances of Deca-Dence.

“Hurry up and get it!”

“I can’t! I am stuck!” – Natsume shouted.

The Gadoll were approaching. Deca-Dence had already anchored itself and the Gears were being deployed. Kaburagi clicked his tongue, re-fastened his gear and lowered himself as quickly as possible towards her.

The tremors of the Giland’s steps shook the whole place. Metal groaned and a piece of steel fell down, Kaburagi cursed.

“Waaah!” – Natsume screamed and pushed herself away from the falling slab of steel.

She swung to the left but it caught one of the cables holding her up. It broke and she dangled, clinging to the one remaining rope with all her might.

“Natsume!”

Kaburagi saw how she slipped and fell. She was going to die if he didn’t do something! He was reminded of Mikey and how the young, passionate, innocent ranker died because of him. Because he was too soft and didn’t do enough…

He grit his teeth, unbuckled his belt and jumped after her. She was flailing her arms and screaming. He managed to grab her shirt, grunting a bit as he was kicked in the process. Kaburagi kept her close and looked ahead at the approaching ground. The Gadoll had already deployed their fields and he aimed at a cluster of a few. It would be pointless to splat on the rocks after jumping to save her.

Natsume closed her eyes, afraid to see her last moments then… weightlessness overtook her. She peeked and saw herself and her boss floating. To her left, a Gadoll screeched, she screamed back in terror.

“I’m borrowing this.”

Before she knew what was happening, she and Kaburagi were flying through the swar of Gadoll, zipping by and dodging attacks. She was spun, pulled, twisted, flung to the side… her brain felt like it was about to explode with all the sudden movement and chatter she was hearing.

_ “Uahg!” IIt hurts like bitch!” “Where are you?!” “Help me!” “Come here-“ “-died” “What?! Again?” “Stop wasting time with that Spoonwormer! Come help us!” “I am surrounded!”… _

She clutched her head until they finally landed and Natsume promptly vomited.

{Launching... 5…4…}

“Cough! Geh-“ she coughed at the nasty taste in her mouth “Get… down!” – she pulled Kaburagi down.

He had been distracted and almost got a heart attack when he felt something pulling him and his feet slipping underneath him. He was about to scold Natsume but then the shockwave hit. Wind whipped over their heads, sand and rock flew in the air. If one of the bigger pieces had hit him, he could have gone to the hospital or worse. Kaburagi looked down at Natsume. She had pulled him down just as the Gadoll had been hit and HE hadn’t noticed the giant fist forming with all the chaos but she had… Her face looked pained and he got worried she might have been hit earlier.

“Are you OK?”

“Y-yeah…” – her face looked green and she almost vomited again but held it in.

“This is the battlefield. Do you still want to fight after seeing this?”

She was too sick to look up or answer him, but Natsume was NOT giving up, no matter what!

As the Tankers buried their fellow soldiers in the Power and the edible Gadoll were cut to pieces, Natsume was clinging onto her boss like her life depended on it. She was feeling too sick and her legs felt both like lead and jelly to walk on her own, in fact she currently looked more like a koala than a human.

Kaburagi didn’t say anything on the way inside, even after reaching his home he was silent. He let her down before going up the stairs to his unit.

“How are you feeling? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“N-No. I am much better. Thanks for bringing me this far, boss. I will be going home now.”

“Are you sure? I can help you.”

“Yes, I am.” – she might have said it a bit harshly but her ears were still buzzing and causing her a headache even after getting away from the Gears.

“If you say so.”

Ding~!

‘It’s that noise again!’ – Natsume looked around but it was only her and her boss.

 _“Oi! Kabu!”_ a male voice said _“I saw you out there today. What happened?”_

 _“Not now, Minato. I have **work** to do.”_ – it was her boss’ voice, a bit distorted like all other voices but she recognized it.

_ “I see… Will hear you later then?” _

_ “We’ll see.” _

She stared at him as he was going up the stairs. He stopped mid-step and looked at her, noticing her staring.

“Is something wrong?”

“Ah… no.” – she turned around and dragged her feet towards her home.

‘I don’t believe it… THE boss is a Gear?! But he looks nothing like them! No, no, there’s no other explanation as to why I hear the voices around him…’

Finally, she dragged herself to her bed and collapsed in it, too exhausted to wash her mouth or get her clothes off.

…………………………………………..

Natsume opened her eyes and was shocked to see herself in the strange place again. She was not in the room she had previously found herself in, instead she seemed to be in some sort of flying ship-thingy in the air, judging by what she saw through the window… WAIT!!

She focused on the half-transparent reflection on the window and silently gasped.

‘Is that… me?’

Staring back at her was a round and floating little thing. A machine, judging by the metal exterior and display. Two blue eyes blinked in disbelief but she never blinked! She meant to do the action but she never felt it or experienced the momentary blackness that occurred when someone blinks. She was freaking out, flying in circles and making panicked beeping and whistling noises.

{Sens error alert? OYes XNo}

‘Wha- NO!’

She shouted at the strange message in her head.

‘Wait…’ she floated a few steps to the left, then to the right ‘I can move! OK. Calm down. This might be a weird-ass dream but it IS a dream, right? So it should be fine to explore a bit?’

She was unsure but slowly floated forward. It was a bit strange, not having to blink and being a floating sphere, she could even swear her field of vision was bigger and clearer. She looked out of a huge window and was awed. Below the ship was some sort of futuristic town with strange buildings, machines, all in pastel colors…

‘Kya!’

She was startled when her vision zoomed in like a camera and now she could see all sorts of different robots walking on the streets below.

Like that, she continued floating and exploring but she couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious. This place- the ship – was a bit too empty.

Clang~!!

She zipped up and back, almost smacking in the ceiling out of fright. Something had clattered, probably fallen from somewhere and hit the metal floor. Cautiously, she approached the place from where the sound had come. Her strange sort of vision had immediately marked the direction with a red circle.

“Ugh…” – someone groaned.

She peered down the hall and saw a figure slumped at the end of it, in a corner. It was one of the robots – stubby limbs, spots, funny hair? and round body, she would even dare call it cute. Although… now that she looked carefully, she could see a screen displaying a cartoonish face. It looked pained and on top of it, the screen was glitching. Even someone not tech-savvy would know that something was wrong.

“Hey!” she zipped quickly to his side “Are you OK? Wait, of course you are not! Just hold in there and don’t give up!”

The robot slowly turned to look up at her, the violent blinking of its screen stopping for a moment. It looked shocked.

“I-Is there someone I can call, something I can help you with or-or…” – she made anxious circles in the air.

The robot seemed to open its mouth, or at least the one on the screen, to speak when-

“NATSUME! Are you in?!” – someone was banging on her door and she fell off her bed.

“C-coming!” – she scrambled for the door.

=== With Kaburagi ===

He had given up. He had accepted this to be his end but then… Something unbelievable happened.

Kaburagi hadn’t expected running out of Oxyone would be so unpleasant. With only a few minutes left, he feeling awful, the massage to refill blaring in his ears.

“Hey! Are you OK?...”

‘Damn, I was found.’ was what he thought when he heard the voice ‘What the heck?!’ – was what he thought next, after seeing a small helper drone floating over him.

“…Just hold in there and don’t give up!” –it said in somewhat familiar voice.

He looked at it, now recognized the voice, shocked to his core.

‘H-How… How is this possible?! Isn’t she a Tanker?’

“Na-“

Suddenly, the display shut down all of a sudden, all movement stopping. After rebooting itself, a set of white dots stared in the distance. Just now Kaburagin noticed the ‘eyes’ had been blue.

“N-Natsume?” – he struggled to his feet.

The drone floated, not even a shred of recognition.

‘What is going on here?’

Kaburagi looked at the Oxyone container he had thrown and picked it up.

‘”Don’t give up!”, eh?’ he looked at the Oxyone ‘I won’t, I promise…’

=== A few days later ===

Natsume was grinning from ear to ear as Kabyrafi led her up, towards the Gear base – the place where players gathered and did business.

“Why did you decide to teach me? What changed your mind?” – Natsume looked at her.

“For no reason.”

“Oh, come on, boss! You saw my hidden potential, right?”

“No. I am just curious how a Bug would survive in this world.”

“Bug? What is that even?”

“It means being weak, like a bug.”

“I see… Then, what does ‘Lagging’ mean? And ‘DPS’? And ‘Lets go Beaming!’?”

“Where did you hear all this?!” – he was startled as she started rattling game and non-game related terms a Tanker would NOT know of.

“I heard it while Gears passed by. I figured since you are also one, I could ask you. I tried asking a teacher but he looked at me strangely.” – she said it as if it was something obvious.

Kaburagi found himself in disbelief. Who would be SO CARELESS to talk about such things out loud while surrounded by Tankers and HOW did she know he was not a Tanker?!

“How did you know.” there was a bit of a dangerous edge to his voice “I want a thorough explanation. We won’t be moving from here until you explain it to me.”

“Uh… Well… D-Do you promise not to tell? I really want to join the power and if they learn about this, they may think I am crazy and will never let me in!”

“I promise not to tell. You have my word.”

“Ever since I lost my arm… I have been hearing these strange, distorted voices whenever one or more of the Gears are around, and in certain cases, I can hear this odd, inorganic voice talking about incoming Gadoll similar things. That’s why I pulled you down before the shockwave hit.”

‘No way… she can hear the chat and system messages?!!’ – for the first time in over 7 years, Kaburagi’s jaw fell in shock.


	3. Chapter 3

=== Time skip ===

Training was harsh but it was worth it! Natsume was bouncing on her way back, head buzzing with the Gers’ chatter after the most recent battle, but even that didn’t dampen her mood! She had done it – she had survived her first battle, saved Pipe and even managed to impress Kurenai-san!

Everything was awesome and she just couldn’t sit in one place!

“Calm down, you are going to make a hole in the jeep.” – Kaburagi said from her left.

“Hehe… Sorry, boss! I am just sooo excited!!”

She stopped bouncing but smiled wider, started to him and tap a leg on the floor. Kaburagi just sighed, giving up, and re-adjusting Pipe’s position – the tiny Gadoll wanting to jump out of his arms and greet everyone.

The group was back in Deca-Dence soon and they split up – Kaburagi rushing off with Pipe, feeling awkward around Kurenai and trying to hide away the little Gadoll while Natsume stayed for some instructions.

…………………………………………

“So, this sums it up! Any more questions?” – Kurenai looked back at Natsume.

“N-No, Kurenai-san!” she saluted “I don’t have any more questions right now.”

“Pfft! Haha… Sorry, just … you are so serious Natsume. Relax, don’t be so stiff. Understood?”

“Yes.”

“Good, now, go to sleep, we have training exercise tomorrow.”

“Alright, Kurenai-san! Have a nice evening!”

Natsume bounded off, leaving the nearby Tankers chuckle. She was very enthusiastic, that was for sure.

……………………………………….

Natsume was in _that_ place again. She had just went to bed and had soon woken up in that strange, floating body. Unlike before, she was not dizzy or panicked, so she had more time to see what was happening. The swirling colors as she felt herself being carried still made her feel nauseous but nothing more.

Yet again, she was in a different place. The first time was a mysterious dark room, the second was a ship in the sky and now… she was in a town square? How was she even imagining these things? Were they-?!

“Hey! Watch it!” – someone shouted.

She quickly looked down and almost regretted it – looking down while floating with no support from over a 100 meters was one thing and looking down while there was a solid ground underneath your feet was another. She HAD to remind herself she wasn’t falling but flying.

Down underneath her was a tall 8-shaped robot with no legs and a much shorter one that was round and had wheels instead of legs. They seemed to argue about something? She tilted her hea- Her whole body seemed to tilt, so she quickly corrected it.

{Attention! Disruption at point SQ-83, sending assistance!}

The inorganic voice… Something was happening! Soon a purple robot came by, the others making way for him. He looked almost like the one she had met the first time around but slightly different – his nose and glasses were different or were those his eyes?

“Please stop disrupting the peace.” – purple robot said.

“Ah!” the one with wheels jumped “O-of course! Sorry for the disturbance.”

“Sorry…” – the 8-shaped one seemed to bow.

‘Hm… are they something like a police?’

The crowd dispersed and she slowly floated in a different direction, gradually lowering her altitude. She wanted to look around this strange place, her curiosity nagging and pushing her forward. Many more robots were out here, a jarring difference to the almost empty spaces she had visited before.

‘What exactly is all this?’ – she wondered as she circled around the roof of a tall building, she was NOT used to the bright pastel colors.

{Dududuuuun~ A new event begins!}

The loud music startled her and she floundered in the air for a bit. Natsume turned towards the sound and watched, unable to move.

{The largest battle of Deca-Dence history yet! The ‘Gadoll Nest’!}

‘What is this…??’ she couldn’t believe her eyes (optics in this case) ‘Is this Deca-Dence? What is going on?! Nest? What…?’

{A thrilling battle in the frigid cold! Don’t miss the Gadoll Den Great Hunt! A battle in the frigid cold, to clear the nest.}

The screen showed a few short clips of Gears fighting Gadoll in the snow, a tall mountain and something shrouded in fog.

Natsume felt faint, black spots and static danced in her vision before everything turned black. The body she had inhabited until a second ago lost all power for a second before it turned back on, rebooted and went back to its previous task of advertising new decorations for the home.

She woke to the sound of her alarm clock blaring. She fell to the hard metal floor with a loud thud and thrashed around with the covers tangled around her. Finally, she managed to free a hand free and slam it on the alarm, cutting the annoying sound.

Natsume sat up, panting and feeling as if she couldn’t take enough air with each breath.

‘That… that HAS to be a dream, RIGHT?!! I-It definitely CAN’T be real…’

She desperately hoped to be so, it couldn’t be true! What she saw was some strange, lucid dream, nothing more, only a silly dream. It was NOT real!

Natsume finally convinced herself it was fine and calmed down a bit.

‘Crap! I forgot we had meeting today!’

After getting dressed and having a quick snack, she ran towards the meeting room.

Natsume watched in shock as Kurenai explained their next mission. The mountain, the Gadoll… It was like the dream was repeating itself but in real life. Dread gripped her whole being, unable to make a sound or blink as she watched on.

=== Meanwhile ===

It had been a while since his training with Natsume had started, the girl exceeding his expectations once she got a better prosthetic. It was fun thaining her and he felt pride whenever she managed to pass another challenge. He had been looking into the incident. Not only did the revelation that the girl was a bug but the fact that she could catch the chat between the players was a bit worrying. What if she got discovered? If someone else had discovered it, they might not have hidden it like Kaburagi did. Not to mention how she somehow was _inside_ one of the drones, albeit for a while. He had been looking around in case he saw another drone with blue ‘eyes’ on its holographic screen but no such luck.

Kaburagi received a message from Minato.

[Hey, Kabu! I want to talk to you, meet me in room 33-E. It is important!]

He sighed but went either way. It was the least he could do for one of his longes and most trusted friends.

“Kabu! I am so glad to see you!” – Minato greeted him enthusiastically.

“Yeah, it is nice to see you too.” – he answered with much less enthusiasm.

Minato smiled either way. After the incident, his friend hadn’t been the same, always quiet and glum, almost depressed most of the time… Recently though, something had changed and a bit of the old Kaburagi was coming back! That was enough to make Minato happy.

“I have some good news for you, Kabu.” – Minato turned on the private setting.

“What is it?”

“If all goes according to the schedule, you are going to come back to the field!”

“What?! But… how? Why?” – Kaburagi couldn’t believe what he had heard.

“You have atoned enough in that dirty job. Look at this.” Minato showed a few chat windows “There has been talk about you recently and management has taken notice of it. They want you back, Kabu!”

A hopeful smile appeared on Kaburagi’s face but it quickly turned sad.

“But the Ranker program was ended…”

“Remember, this can’t leave this room under any circumstance!” Minato tapped a few times on the pad “This mission, it cannot be cleared.”

“Can’t be cleared?!”

“Yes. Gadoll Alpha should be impossible to kill even for S-class players. Deca-Dence will be but in danger since the fog won’t lift. Most of the Gears will probably die and in the moment of despair, heroes from before will return and save everyone. That’s how the story is supposed to go this time.”

“Then that would mean…” – Kaburagi looked down.

“Don’t be so glum, Kabu! It will be no different than being a ranker! You just have to keep your head down until the event and everything will turn out fine!” – Minato waved his hands, unaware of Kaburagi’s inner conflict.

=== In Deca-Dence, night before the big mission ===

Natsume was cleaning her equipment with a pensive look. Everything was starting to make less and less sense! Her dream, the mission… She couldn’t have imagined it! She had never been to that mountain, nor seen it in her father’s pictures, not to mention she was sure a few of the shots Kurenai had shown were EACTLY the same as the ones in her dream. This couldn’t be a coincidence!

‘Then what would that mean? Was what I saw real? No, it can’t… But then that would mean I have some sort of future sight, which is also as unlikely… Then, could it be the truth?! There are small, cutesy robots watching us from the sky? Why?! HOW?! What is going on?!’

Somebody knocked on the door.

“Coming!” – Natsume was secretly glad she had someone to distract her from her thoughts for a while.

“May I come it?”

“Boss!” she smiled “Of course, come in! It might be a bit messy, with all the things scattered around, but-“

“Are you also going?”

“What?”

“To the mission, the Gadoll Nest?”

“Ah, that. Yes, I am going! If we manage to destroy it, we’ll stop the Gadoll and be able to live peacefully! Won’t that be great? I also wanted to-”

A dark look came to his eyes.

“Boss, what’s wrong?”

“Don’t go on that mission.”

“Why?! I can help! If it succeeds, we won’t have to live in fear of the Gadoll! We’ll be free to live wherever we want! To explore the outside world!”

“The mission won’t succeed! This is all pointless! The Gadoll won’t disappear, not now, nor ever.”

“Boss, you aren’t making any sense…”

“Don’t you get it? This-“ – he turned around but froze when he saw her face.

“I-I can’t just stand here and do nothing.” She finally said “I can help! I can’t just sit around and do nothing! I want to see what I can do; I want to know!”

He grits his teeth and grabs one of the needles lying on the nearby table.

“Boss?! What are you doing?! Stop!” – she tried to hold him back but he pushed her and impaled her tank.

Green liquid spilled on the floor, leaking from the holes on the needle. He passed by her without saying a word and went out of the door.

“Hey!” she eventually turned back “Boss, wait! You can’t just do this and walk out without an explanation!” – she looked around for him but she just couldn’t see him.

Natsume felt angry, frustrated and a bit betrayed. He had been the first person to believe in her, to give her a chance in following her dream and now he just broke her tank without an explanation! This day was not making any sense anymore!

The next day came and she looked for him but he was nowhere to be seen. Not on work, not outside the walls, not even in his home. She wanted to ask him what he had been thinking, why had he done it… Did he suspect something? Did he had an idea what her dream (or was it reality) meant?

No matter how much she tried or how many people she asked, they hadn’t seen him since the day of their argument. Just like that, the time for the mission came. Natsume strapped on a new tank she had bought just the day before, put on a thicker cloak and assembled with the other Tankers, boarding on the assigned vehicle. She gave Deca-Dence one last look before their vehicle zipped behind a tall slope.

=== Skip (you know how the fight goes) ===

{System error! Generating pre-determined environment…}

Natsume and all other Tankers watched as several giant Gadoll seemed to appear out of nowhere in front of them.

“You knew about this, didn’t you, boss?” – she was on her knees, eyes wide and limbs trembling.

“…Please, take care of Pipe.”

“Boss!!” – she turned around, ready to scold him but he was gone.

Natsume was angry. After everything, he left again! He didn’t apologize, he didn’t explain himself, he didn’t even stay to talk! She fumed.

“DAMN IT!” – she hit the snow-covered ground with her fist.

……………………………….

Natsume was in that other body again, this time thankfully in a familiar space – the square.

She was on a mission! She had to learn whatever she could about this strange place and the strange things happening to her. She floated on when someone shouted.

“Helper! Come here!”

She turned around to see a short green robot with one eye look at her. She did a mental shrug and continued on.

“Hey! Come back here, stupid piece of junk!” – he cussed but she didn’t listen further.

‘What is this?’ – she looked at a strange device floating in the air.

{Request assistance? OYes XNo}

‘The hell??’ she was surprised by the sudden popup ‘Hmm… this, might be useful… I think?’

=== One month later ===

It had been a bit over a month since Kaburagi disappeared. Natsume was sitting on a bench with Pipe, the small Gadoll chewing a piece of fried meat. Someone was coming down the hall and she pulled the hood of Pipe’s outfit a bit lower to the protest of the little creature. A mysterious man with his face hidden by a hood and a scarf appeared, she became even more cautious.

The figure stops a few steps away from her and pulls the scarf down, revealing itself to be Kaburagi.

“I-“ – he began.

Natsume promptly punched him in the face, his nose started to bleed as he fell to the floor.

“Naa~!” – Pipe tried to get to him but Natsume held him in her arm.

“I guess I deserved it.” – Kaburagi rubbed his nose as he sat up.

“What are you doing here?!” Natsume shouted “You just came, ruined my tank, then left! After I finally saw you during the fight, you just said ‘We don’t have time right now.’ AND even AFTER that, you disappeared for more than a month! What’s up with you?!” – she was in his face.

“Sorry, Natsume, back then, I really wanted to talk to you but something came up and… I just couldn’t come back until today. I am sorry.” – he bowed his head.

She huffed, her anger diminishing.

“Why are you here, boss? Are you finally coming back to work?”

“No, actually…” he hesitated a bit “I need your help with something, something important.”

“Are you for real?” – she scowled.

“Yes, it is something only you can help me with. I know you are angry and… I can’t really promise anything, but I will do my best to make it to you.”

“Fine, I’ll hear what you need my help for BUT not before WE have a long-coming talk!” she pointed at him “You will explain and tell me everything – about the Gears, the strange robot town and what exactly is Solid Quake!”

Kaburagi’s eyes widened.

“EVERYTHING! Got it?!”

“Got it.”

She smiled and helped him up. Pipe latched to his face and almost made him fall but he felt a bit relieved. Natsume had agreed to listen and that was enough for him.

=== Bonus (it logically just didn’t fit in the story) ===

Kaburagi sat waiting while Jill was hooking some wires to a new pad. He watched but found his mouth moving before he could stop himself.

“Jill…”

“What is it? I am kind of busy right now.”

“Ah, it’s just… I was wondering if someone could somehow hack into the System.”

“Are you stupid? No one can hack into it, there’s an impenetrable wall that just doesn’t let anything interfere with it. The only way to interact with it in any way is through a proxy and even that has too many defenses and you’d be cut off and detected before you can get in. Why do you ask?”

“Well, there’s this girl, she’s a Tanker, I was thinking, maybe she can help since she somehow got IN Solid Quake’s ship.”

Jill stops and looks at him like his top just popped off with confetti spilling out of it.

“Are you joking with me? A Tanker shouldn’t even KNOW about this, much less have the skill to get in undetected! Don’t tell me she is some master hacker that did something even I would accomplish with great difficulty?” – she scowled.

“Look, even I don’t know how she did it but I am sure it was Natsume I saw back then!”

“Yeah? And what is this Natsume doing now? Training her hacking skills? Planning to shut down the System? Are you even sure it was her?” – Jill was still skeptical.

Somebody knocked on the door.

“Yes, come in.” – Jill said, not turning to look who it was.

A short, cowering cyborg that looked a bit like a trash can meekly peeked inside.

“H-here he is!” – he said to someone and quickly scurried off.

Kaburagi and Jill were now both looking at the door. A helper drone with blue eyes and a deep scowl floated in.

“Boss~!” Natsume’s voice came a bit strained “Mind explaining WHY you disappeared for so long, made us all worry and NOW I find you in a PRISON?!” – her voice became furious and she was shouting.

He writhed under her intense gaze and let himself be scolded. Jill just stood to the side, mouth agape as she watched the small drone shout, criticize and even push Kaburagi into a corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kaburagi was reasonably distressed after Natsume told him she can hear the chat between players, so he was hesitant and didn’t tell her much more than the fact he is one of the Gears. He hasn’t revealed the truth of the world to her because he is worried it would break her. You clearly saw her crack when she saw the ad.


End file.
